Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The value of initial coin offering (ICO) tokens has reduced by 54% from starting figure of $24bn, said a latest research by cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX.
At peak valuation, these token allocations were valued at over $80bn. However, BitMEX Research notes that "in reality, liquidity was too low for this value to be realized." Furthermore, due to the tokens' precipitous drop in market value, these allocations are currently worth $5bn.
BitMEX cited the 2018 crypto bear market as one of the main reasons, along with $1.5bn worth of transfers to external addresses.
It explains: "Based on current illiquid spot prices, the ICO teams still appear to own around $5bn of their own tokens, money they essentially got from nothing, depending on ones view. At the same time the teams may have realized gains of $1.5bn by selling tokens, based on coins leaving team address clusters."
In conclusion, BitMEX Research estimates that ICO teams have profited nearly $13bn from their ICO process "with very little work, accountability or transparency," adding that while ICOs have proven to be "extremely attractive" for project founders, the results for investors "have not been as attractive."
BitMEX has conducted a research of the ICO market in collaboration with analytics firm TokenAnalyst, looking into treasury balances of more than a hundred projects on the Ethereum (ETH) network.
BitMEX previously reported that 12 ICO projects each of which h...................... To view our full article Click here
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